Query-Based User Groups in Social Networks

1. A system comprising: a computing device; and a computer-readable medium coupled to the computing device and having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising: receiving digital content from at least one user of a first plurality of users; determining one or more queries based on at least one of a temporal identifier or a location identifier obtained from the digital content; processing data stored in a data store based on at least one query of the one or more queries to identify a second plurality of users, the second plurality of users sharing a commonality identified by at least one of the temporal identifier or the location identifier obtained from the digital content; generating one or more query-based social circles, the second plurality of users populating a query-based social circle of the one or more query-based social circles, the query-based social circle being directed to the commonality and defining a distribution list for distributing the digital content to one or more users of the second plurality of users; and transmitting social circle data corresponding to the query-based social circle to display a representation of the query-based social circle to at least one user of the first plurality of users.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: receiving user input from the at least one user, the user input indicating instructions to distribute the digital content based on the query-based social circle; and in response to receiving the user input, distributing the digital content to users of the second plurality of users.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: for each user: generating a relevance score, the relevance score reflecting a relevance of the query-based social circle to the user; and determining that the relevance score is greater than or equal to a threshold relevance score, wherein transmitting social circle data comprises transmitting the social circle data to the user in response to determining that the relevance score is greater than or equal to a threshold relevance score.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: for each user: generating a plurality of relevance scores, each relevance score of the plurality of relevance scores reflecting a relevance of a respective query-based social circle to the user; ranking query-based social circles based on the plurality of relevance scores; and identifying a subset of query-based social circles based on the ranking, wherein transmitting social circle data comprises transmitting the social circle data corresponding to query-based social circles in the subset of query-based social circles.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data comprises data submitted by each user of the first plurality of users to the social networking service.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the digital content comprises at least one of text, status data, an image, a video and a hyperlink.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second plurality of users are anonymous to one another.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the query comprises a search query and processing data stored in a data store based on the query comprises determining a commonality between one or more users based on the data.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the commonality comprises at least one of a location, an event, a locale and a route.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the at least one query includes generating the at least one query in response to user input provided by a user of the first plurality of users.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the user input comprises text input provided as at least a portion of a textual post to be distributed by the user through the social networking service.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise processing digital content distributed through the social networking service to identify an occurrence of the commonality, wherein determining the at least one query includes generating the at least one query in response to the occurrence.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the occurrence comprises an event and the commonality comprises attendance of each user of the second plurality of users at the event.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the occurrence is associated with a location and the commonality comprises a presence of each user of the second plurality of users at the location.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein each user in the second plurality of users are users of the social networking service.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein transmitting social circle data corresponding to the query-based social circle to display a representation of the query-based social circle, comprises transmitting to each user of the second plurality of users.

17. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising: receiving digital content from at least one user of a first plurality of users; determining one or more queries based on at least one of a temporal identifier or a location identifier obtained from the digital content; processing data stored in a data store based on at least one query of the one or more queries to identify a second plurality of users, the second plurality of users sharing a commonality identified by at least one of the temporal identifier or the location identifier obtained from the digital content; generating one or more query-based social circles, the second plurality of users populating a query-based social circle of the one or more query-based social circles, the query-based social circle being directed to the commonality and defining a distribution list for distributing the digital content to one or more users of the second plurality of users; and transmitting social circle data corresponding to the query-based social circle to display a representation of the query-based social circle to at least one user of the first plurality of users.

18. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, by a computer device, digital content from at least one user of a first plurality of users; determining, by a computer device, one or more queries based on at least one of a temporal identifier or a location identifier obtained from the digital content; processing, by a computer device, data stored in a data store based on at least one query of the one or more queries to identify a second plurality of users, the second plurality of users sharing a commonality identified by at least one of the temporal identifier or the location identifier obtained from the digital content; generating, by a computer device, one or more query-based social circles, the second plurality of users populating a query-based social circle of the one or more query-based social circles, the query-based social circle being directed to the commonality and defining a distribution list for distributing the digital content to one or more users of the second plurality of users; and transmitting, by a computer device, social circle data corresponding to the query-based social circle to display a representation of the query-based social circle to at least one user of the first plurality of users.